Summary
If your business venture doesn't succeed, how can you be sure it's worth trying again before admitting defeat? More than 50% of businesses fail within 5 years, yet for many, failure is a necessary part of success. Even Bill Gates and Steve Jobs didn't get it right first time. Evan Davis's guests discuss the important lessons they've learned from their business mistakes and speak candidly about the personal and financial impact of failing. How do you overcome the stigma of failure and what skills are required to bounce back when your business has bombed?
Guests: Bill Cullen, Chairman, Bill Cullen Motor Group Katarina Skoberne, Co-founder and former CEO, OpenAd Stuart Miller, Co-founder and CEO, ByBox Group
Producer: Sally Abrahams.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading this program. |
| 0:02.4 | In this edition of the bottom line, we're discussing business failure, |
| 0:06.4 | how to deal with it and its impacts, both financial and personal. |
| 0:12.2 | Hello and welcome to the program. |
| 0:14.7 | Now here's a fact. |
| 0:16.0 | About half of new businesses fail within their first four years of life. |
| 0:20.8 | Should we bemoan that? Not necessarily. Failure can be a sign that people are being ambitious, |
| 0:25.5 | trying daring new things and taking risks, and of course not all of them can succeed. |
| 0:30.3 | But that being said, while failure is central to our economy driving itself forward, |
| 0:35.4 | it is also the most painful experience for those dealing with it. |
| 0:39.2 | So today we'll focus on failure of the heroic kind and the plain unfortunate variety. |
| 0:46.0 | And we'll also look at its consequences. |
| 0:48.5 | Now my three guests have all been in charge of businesses that have failed in one form or another, |
| 0:52.8 | so let's meet them. |
| 0:53.9 | And I'm going to get each of you actually to give me one form or another, so let's meet them. And I'm going |
| 0:54.3 | to get each of you actually to give me one word, literally one word that you think describes the |
| 0:59.6 | root of the failure you experienced. Let's start with Bill Cullen, who was chairman of Bill Cullen |
| 1:05.5 | Motor Group, former host actually of the Irish version of The Apprentice. |
| 1:13.1 | Now, Bill, your current business is based in Dublin. |
| 1:15.1 | You're talking to us from there today. |
| 1:16.8 | Tell us about this one. |
| 1:20.1 | This is a new business, but it's the same product. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.